Thanks to you commenters, it’s clear that getting the scheduled starter right for even just two days after I type this is a difficult task for my source. How did it tell me that Adam Conley would start today when he actually started the previous day?! I am using my fantasy site on CBS since the format of the probable starters was easiest to copy to Excel and eventually get into this post. Hopefully there aren’t any more mistakes!
So as I figured, you guys benefit significantly more from start/sit advice for starting pitchers scheduled the following day. For the rest of my posts this week, that’s what I’ll do. Unfortunately, that means that tonight’s starters won’t get a write-up. However, if you have any questions about who to start or bench today, let me know in the comments and I’ll do my best to monitor and respond while at the office.
It’s the last week of the season! And that hopefully means that all our wonderful advice will result in a first place finish after the final pitch is thrown this Sunday. But this also means that I was expecting to spend hours tonight trying to figure out what to write about. How does one dole out advice with just one week left in the season?! So I’ll go with an unoriginal daily starting pitcher start/bench theme. Naturally, with everyone in different league formats and sizes, it’s hard to offer a one size fits all recommendation. So I’ll do my best. Also, you’ll notice these are tonight’s matchups. I believe for some of you, you cannot actually pick up and start a pitcher on the same day, so advice on the following day’s pitchers would be more beneficial. If this is indeed your situation, speak up in the comments!
After his first nine Major League starts, Luis Severino has somehow failed to excite any of us RotoGraphers enough to convince us to write an article about him. So here it is, finally. Before the season, Kiley ranked Severino as the Yankees top prospect and the 26th best prospect in baseball. He figured that Severino would get his cup of coffee late this season or first debut in 2016. So pitching his first game on August 5th was probably earlier than most expected.
It’s been one heck of a year for rookie hitters. Though, if you’re in a CBS league and take a look at the season-to-date value rankings, you will only find one rookie that made the top 50, Kris Bryant. That’s no surprise though as it’s not often a rookie is that good that he’s able to break into elite fantasy territory in his first season. Of course, some hitters were just promoted too late in the season, like Carlos Correa, to build the counting stats necessary. So while the counting stats from this year’s rookie crop are what we generally expect, the power is not.
Say it ain’t so! There’s only two weeks of the season left? Wow, how time flies. Hopefully you’re either already in a prize spot or fighting to reach one. The final two weeks are fun because you might decide to make roster moves you would never consider during the earlier part of the season. So here are some random pieces of advice and thoughts for these final two weeks.
Sort our leaderboards by second half ERA in descending order in the American League and Jeff Samardzija sits atop the list with the highest mark. And it’s not even close. His 7.43 ERA might have been less of a surprise if it came from another former White Sox starter Hector Noesi, but the guy affectionately known as “Shark” has been bitten by the bad pitching bug. It’s not even like he has pitched well, but has suffered from some poor fortune like teammate Chris Sale (5.00 ERA in 2nd half vs 2.57 SIERA), as his 4.76 SIERA is fifth worst in the second half. Of course, he wasn’t exactly Samardzija like in the first half either, but a 4.02 ERA compiled while pitching in a hitter’s haven of a ball park and with a terrible defensive unit behind him isn’t so bad.
We’re only a couple of weeks away from season’s end, so hopefully your team is in such amazing shape that it doesn’t require a dive into the free agent pool.
…and it is delightful. Coming up with a topic to write about with only a couple of weeks left in the season is tough. So in the search for an idea, I fall back on my typical activity — leaderboard sorting! Though I routinely shake my head at any analysis that includes monthly or half-season splits, the performance numbers over those time periods aren’t always meaningless. Just the vast majority of the time they are. And since the vast majority isn’t quite 100%, I decided to check on the ISO leaders in the second half of the season, hoping to find a surprising name near the top. Sure enough, I found him sitting at sixteen. His name is Rougned Odor and he smells wonderful.
I should have known. I was thrilled to have acquired Troy Tulowitzki upon his entrance into the American League at the trade deadline in AL Tout Wars. I crossed my fingers that he would remain healthy, and productive, for the several months on my squad. That wasn’t to be. Naturally, it was a freak injury that has now sidelined him, causing his many fantasy owners to groan and think to themselves “of course this happened to him”.
If you missed the news, Tulowitzki suffered a bruised back and a cracked left shoulder blade, with the best case scenario having him returning in two to three weeks. Since that means there’s a very real chance he’s done for the season, or makes it back for just a couple of games, it’s time to search for a replacement. My American League only options are pathetic. But yours might not be. So here are a couple of shortstop eligible hitters owned in fewer than 50% of leagues that could make up for at least some of the lost production.
